Drew a WY antelope tag, now what?

[TedH]

Woohoo! Just found out we were drawn for antelope in Unit 7! Any tips from those familiar with the area would be appreciated.

[Borregos]

Congratulations, have a great hunt

[Don McDowell]

Woohoo! Just found out we were drawn for antelope in Unit 7! Any tips from those familiar with the area would be appreciated.

Start practicing your belly crawling technique with particular attention paid to cactus avoidance..

[86er]

Ted - I'm not trying to be negative but in my opinion that area was coveted and now they issue too many tags. Easy road access makes it easy to pressure the animals over into the surrounding private land (and the whole area is surrounded by private land now). I'd start going up into Black Mountain Roadless Area or Deer Creek Roadless Area. You will have to spot down into the flats. Pocket groups of animals will move into little grass flats and will also funnel and congregate in the border corners of the property before crossing onto private land. Your best bet is to arrive three (at least two) days early and scout from above. When you locate a group that seems consistent, get close under the cover of darkness on opening day and hope and pray when the sun comes up you are or can get within reasonable range. If that doesnt work for some reason, go back up and watch the groups move upwards and to the corners and try it again. I have heard that a mountain bike can be an asset in some of the places if you use them on the Roadless area hiking paths, but I've not brought one personally. Good Luck!

[Don McDowell]

86 you have no idea what or where you're even talking about. In antelope area 7 there is no such territory such as you describe. It is highplains, mixed with almost desert country. Some grasslands and alot of sagebrush. There is some private lands, and there is a ton of blm ,state and a part of the Thunderbasin National grasslands.
Ted you'ld best be prepared for weather ranging anywhere from 80 degrees and hot to 10 above and blizzard conditions. That is gumbo country so if it's wet going anywhere off the hard surfaced road will be next to impossible,even on foot.
A good set of binoculars will be your friend along with a range finder.
Try to plan your trip late in the season so as to let the opening day rush get past.The season is set at the height of the rut, and antelope are skiddish then hunter pressure or not, but at least later in the season you'll have less of a chance of a blown stalk due to someone else coming in, and if you end up needing permission on private lands, your chances of getting that access is greater than at the start of the season.

[86er]

Oh - my mistake. I thought it was the same Area 7 as elk. Sorry...

[Don McDowell]

If it would of been elk area 7 he would of been doing the handstands and cartwheels back in Feburary. That area isn't over subscribed, its over absentee landowner owned, and what used to be fairly easy access is extremely limited, and alot of the private ground has been locked up by "outfitter" leases. The game and fish is supposed to manage biggame herds for habitat levels, not for horn/antler quality, and "sportsmans" gratification.

[86er]

Ted - I see in my journal only one entry for antelope in Area 7 and it is from 2009. I noted we parked at Beaver Creek and we were approximately 3.3 miles West of Newcastle. We walked in just over one mile headed N.E. and were able to glass into a 3 finger of rises. Two of the guys took antelope, a 10 7/8" and a 13 1/8". I have the Game Wardens name and # but I can't say if it is the same Officer still, but I can give you that via PM.

Don - Thanks for helping out Ted. For a guy that obviously knows all about the area you were really able to give him specific helpful information to make his trip successful. I've only been to this area once and I've not been to Wyoming more than 6 or 7 times.

[Don McDowell]

86 er... I can walk out of the house, jump in the pickup and be in Antelope area 7 in about an hour, elk area 7 I can be there in about 30 minutes.
And because I have lived here for over a half century it might stand to reason I have a bit more knowledge about it, than someone who lets say migrated to Texas ,,, from long island.

[dkmlever]

Congrats on drawing the tag, buck or doe? I did not even draw the WY doe tags I put in for...boo hoo!

[TedH]

Thanks for the info Don and Joe.

Congrats on drawing the tag, buck or doe? I did not even draw the WY doe tags I put in for...boo hoo!

Tag is good for any antelope. Not looking for a record book buck, just a nice representative buck will tickle me.

[Digger]

Congrats on drawing the tag. I hunted the Thunder Basin National Grasslands two years ago. You'll have a great trip. I didn't draw any tags this season (got a bit ambitious and swung for some really choice areas - maybe over-reached a bit), so I'll look forward to pictures of your hunt.

[TedH]

How did you do on your hunt? I need details man!

[Digger]

TedH,

Being new to antelope hunting and passingly familiar with the geography of eastern Wyoming, my hunting partner and I actually hunted the wrong portion of the Thunder Basin National Grasslands for antelope! Two years ago we drew tags in Area 18 (second choice area), which contains the northern portion of the Grasslands. We thought we'd get away from a lot of the pressure in the southern areas, but would still be on "grasslands". Well, we were. Sort of. If grasslands are mostly cactus, sage brush, rock, and pines. It was incredible country, no doubt, with a good bit of topographic relief and some decent access to the public lands. Not too many antelope though, and we quickly learned that people tend to hunt that area for mulies, rather than speed goats. In fact, we only encountered one other antelope hunter during our entire trip. Everyone else was after deer. But, we had tags and antelope were about, if not abounding.

Here in Ohio, we both either still hunt deer or hunt from a comfy seat beneath a tree, so spot and stalk hunting was not as succesful as pimagined it would be. My 6'7" 220 lbs frame combined with my inexperience (Did you know antelope have really good eyesight? Who whudda thunk) and did not lend itself to dissappearing into the sagebrush. But, through some careful observation of the landscape and watching what few antelope we could see from a pretty high vantage point, we found a corridor about a quarter mile wide that the antelope were using when bumped from public land in the north to get to a private ranch to the south. On our 4th day of the hunt, we decided to do what we do best and both went to opposite ends of the "corridor" (or Hidden Valley, as we call it), found a comfy spot, and sat. We ended up both taking antelope. A doe for me and a small buck for my partner, with relatively easy shots of around 100-150 yards.

We did make it to the southern portion of the grasslands on our way home, as we left a few days early just to do some exploring. It is different terrain, no doubt, and holds quite a few more antelope. We were going to put in for tags in Area 7 this year, but had built up a few preference points and applied to some pretty tough areas to draw. No such luck, but I do have another preference point so that's something, I guess.

Good luck with your hunt.

[Leverluver]

Cabelas has the 450 and 550 Garmin gps on sale. I just got the 450 as it is cheaper and I don't care about the topography of Kansas or Conn. or anywhere other than WY. You can buy the same chip for them ($100) that the law inforcement and F&G use to determine land ownership or any trespass squabbles about same. I just got one and it is a marvel. It not only shows the the property lines but WHO owns the property. Just driving around with it, I found out who the lying **** that used to run folks off public property were. Not saying it would help in your area but I know a few jerks I'm going to have a chat with this summer, Garmin in hand. If they want to escalate it from there fine by me. I'm tired of these land grabbing ---holes.

[ollogger]

Ted I use to live at Newcastle so area 7 was in my back yard, but ive not hunted it since 1987, theres some stock damms
west of beaver cr. that are a good bet on seeing goats comeing & going for water as the cr. may be dry & if the damms are dry find water & youll find goats, watch for snakes if warm, if its wet well have fun its gumbo & thers patches of bentonite
both are very unforgiveing, if ya can walk a half mile from a road with out being sky lined & glass it works good, most people road hunt & the goats learn fast to stay away from the roads, Antelope are a blast to hunt so have fun

ollogger

[TedH]

Good info guys, thanks. Keep it coming.